Did you know that the average person with back pain spends about $3,000 more each year on health care than someone without pain ($7,000 vs. $4,000 respectively)?[i] These extra thousands are going toward lower back pain treatment, but research suggests that more treatments do not necessarily lead to improvements in pain.[ii]

In fact, lower back pain treatments have been increasing tremendously (we’re talking a 6-fold increase in epidural steroid injections, a 4-fold increase in spending on opioid drugs, a two-fold increase in spinal fusion surgery …) but there is NO corresponding drop in pain. People are still suffering … and still searching for a lower back pain treatment that actually works.

That’s not asking a lot, but it may be wishful thinking if you go the conventional route for lower back pain treatment …

1. Steroid Injections: One of the most common lower back pain treatments, steroid injections, also known as cortisone injection, epidural, steroid injection, and epidural steroid injection involve injecting a steroid into the space surrounding your spinal cord. This helps to reduce inflammation and in some cases the related pain, but results are inconsistent at best.

Research shows that benefits of steroid injections are questionable, and if there are any, they are typically only short-lived.[iii] On the flipside, they are painful to receive and very expensive, particularly because more than one is often needed.

2. NSAIDs: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most commonly prescribed drugs for back pain, but they only provide short-term relief. Plus, this class of drugs is notorious for increasing your risks of heart attack (Vioxx, anyone?). Just recently, a National Cancer Institute study found taking 400 mg of the NSAID Celebrex twice a day for about 33 months increases your heart attack risk by 340%! Why risk it when there are better ways …

3. Aspirin: Think a “safe” pain reliever like aspirin is better for you? Even aspirin, which is actually a type of NSAID, carries significant risks, including serious gastrointestinal bleeding, kidney damage, stroke, cataracts, hearing loss and a risk of chronic overdose when taking for a long period of time. Aspirin’s side effects are so severe researchers have recommended it be changed to prescription-only status.

4. Spinal Fusion: Rates of spinal fusion surgery increased 137 percent between 1998 and 2008,[iv] adding billions of dollars to the nation’s health care costs. But chances are you’d think twice before going under the knife if you knew a study in the journal Spine recently found spinal fusion patients fare worse than those who received nonsurgical treatment.[v] Those who received the surgery had a significant increase in disability, prescription painkiller (opiates) use and prolonged work loss, along with a poor probability of returning to work.

Guess What? These Lower Back Pain Treatments Actually Work

Imagine that!

If the standard of care fails miserably at relieving and healing lower back pain, and it almost always does, it’s time to get to get to the bottom of your pain. What’s causing it in the first place …

A herniated disc or arthritis of the spine are not examples of causes; these are symptoms of the real underlying cause. If you are not yet aware of the real causes of back pain, you need to pinpoint the physical dysfunctions and muscle imbalances that are throwing your spine and the rest of your back out of proper alignment. This is the true cause of your pain, and it can be caused by virtually anything — lifting a toddler, sitting in a desk, carrying a backpack, you name it.

1. Get Your Muscles in Proper Balance. It’s easier than you may think to figure out where your back pain is stemming from, particularly if you check out the Lose the Back Pain System, which walks you through a series of self assessments designed to help you pinpoint which physical dysfunctions you have, then teaches you a customized series of corrective exercises, stretches, and self-treatments that are unique to your condition.

The reason you have lower back pain is because your body and spine have been pulled out of their normal position and into these dysfunctions and imbalances, and healing them often means your back pain disappears — for good … and without drugs.

2. Learn How to Get Rid of Knots. If you have aching “knots” in your back, neck or shoulders, you likely have trigger points — concentrated areas of irritated and inflamed muscles and nerves, caused by overuse or injury. Trigger points are often very painful to your lower back, but the pain may also show up where you least expect it, such in your joints or your head.

Deep manual pressure applied to trigger points has a dramatic therapeutic effect by quickly eliminating pain. You can go to a massage therapist, chiropractor or physical therapist for this, but you can also do it yourself, in the comfort of your own home, for far less money.

3. Sit Up, Don’t Slouch … Better Yet, Stand! Lower back pain is often the result of poor posutre (leading to the muscle imbalances noted above). If you slouch and slump over in your chair, back pain is pretty much guaranteed sooner or later. But even with the best intentions, it’s difficult to sit for long periods “properly,” although a proper desk chair can help. The best solution is to get up and stretch at least every 20 minutes or so when you’re seated. Even better, try to limit your sitting time to the shortest length possible, and stand up instead of sitting whenever you can (such as while you’re talking on the phone).

4. Far-Infrared (FIR) Heat. Do you ever wish you could walk around with a heating pad strapped to your back? If you use a special heating pad that uses far-infrared rays (FIR), you’ll get heat that penetrates down two to three inches (compared to just 2-3 mm for regular heating pads). This means the soothing relief lasts; it won’t just dissipate the second you turn it off.

5. Homeopathic Pain Cream. Most back pain creams work using a technique known as “counterirritants.” While menthol cools your skin, methyl salicylate (a potentially toxic ingredient) warms it up. This distracts you from the pain, but it doesn’t heal it, nor does it usually fool you for very long.

A better option that will do more than just mask your symptoms is called Rub on Relief. This is a broad-spectrum homeopathic pain cream that was formulated to address many of the foundational reasons why you are in pain. It contains a synergistic blend of homeopathic ingredients, giving you truly natural pain relief, fast.

6. Natural Pain Relievers. Nature is home to some of the most powerful anti-pain ingredients known to man. Devil’s Claw, Boswellia Extract, Turmeric, Bromelain … each of these is powerful in its own right, but when they’re combined together, and added to even more anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving ingredients, the result is nothing short of miraculous.

We regularly receive reports of people tossing their prescription painkillers in the trash once they try this natural formula known as Heal-n-Soothe; it really is that effective — and you cantry it FREEtoday, so why not?

Keep ‘Em Coming!

Looking for even more no-fuss tips and tricks to send your back pain packing? Sign up for the World’s Best Back Pain Newsletter now using the space in the upper right corner of this page. It’s free — do it now. You won’t be sorry.

3 thoughts on “Lower Back Pain Treatment: The 6 Best Solutions & What to Avoid”

I have been diagnoised with stenoisis of the spine in two places,4 & 5 slipping and need to fuse, anotherneeds to have something because it has collapsed.
I am scheduled to have aback operation the 21 st of August.
I have not found anything to fix the stenosis except surgery.
Being 76 years old it would be niceto find an another way other than surgery.

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